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Opera 8 Released

bonch writes "After a series of beta releases, Opera 8 final has now been released. Read the announcement complete with download links. The new Opera sports a streamlined interface and several rendering improvements."

11 of 676 comments (clear)

  1. Mac version 8.0b1 also released recently by ubiquitin · · Score: 4, Informative

    release date on the dmg download for the Mac is April 18.
    Two comments:

    1. It is very fast.
    2. Keychain integration, so all the web site passwords from your other keychain-enabled browsers (firefox, safari, etc.) on your Mac will be remembered.

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  2. screenshots by MankyD · · Score: 4, Informative
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  3. Better links. by frostman · · Score: 4, Informative

    The linky got me a proxy error, so here are some others.

    Product page with download links etc.

    The Register

    The Google

    ...and what is up with OperaMan?

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    This Like That - fun with words!

  4. How to (legally) get a free Opera license by zxSpectrum · · Score: 4, Informative

    (This is a partial repost from my own blog entry on Opera 8

    Opera is giving away free licenses to people who help spread Opera. That's right, you can get a free license for an ad-free Opera, provided you do the following:

    1. Register an account at the My Opera Community
    2. Create an affiliate link on your blog or web site. Your link should be to http://my.opera.com/username/affiliate/ (substitute username for your My Opera username, replacing any spaces in your username with +). You can use either a text link, or one of the supplied banners.
    3. Get fifty people to download Opera[1]

    [1] It's actually getting them to visit my.opera.com, but: People should really, really try Opera 8. It's quite brilliant, and in many ways sets the standard for what a web browser should and should not do.

  5. Re:But does it pass the ACID2 Test? by bunratty · · Score: 4, Informative

    No browsers pass Acid2. So far, the development version of Safari comes closest.

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  6. Re:Does is have SVG support? by gasaraki · · Score: 4, Informative

    It supports SVG 1.1 Tiny, yes.

  7. Re:The question every firefox user is asking by Tiger+the+Lion · · Score: 5, Informative

    For adblocking, you should try Proxomitron. I've found this to be a god-send for browsing - blocks ads, popups, etc, etc. Plus, the blocklists are constantly being updated by dedicated users, and can be found at CastleCops. For Linux, try Privoxy.

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  8. Re:all-nine-users-cheer dept ?? by hkmwbz · · Score: 5, Informative
    "I am becoming disenchanted with the direction that Opera Software is taking. Opera is becoming more bloated and more buggy with each release."
    Huh? Opera 8 has had the longest period of testing ever. And even with all the built-in features it's still smaller and faster than Firefox.

    Opera 8 is even faster than previous versions as well. I have no idea how you can be talking about "bloat" and "more buggy", when clearly, they are fixing stuff like mad, and with three betas and countless previews in addition to that, Opera 8.0 is an extremely solid release.

    "Instead of fixing bugs, new features are being added, new features that themselves contain additional bugs."
    Instead of fixing bugs? What are you talking about? Loads of bugs have been fixed during the beta tests. It is nothing but a blatant lie to claim that Opera has been fixing bugs instead of adding new features.

    But so what if they add new features? It's a good thing! Opera is expanding. They can afford to hire more devs, both to add new features, and to fix bugs.

    "Why do I need yet another mail reader in my browser?"
    Opera has always had a built-in e-mail client, so the point is moot.
    "On the other hand, I can get FireFox to have similar functionality to Opera only by loading a bunch of plug-ins."
    Except Firefox has lots of bugs of its own. Just recently, 1.0.3 was released with critical security fixes, whereas Opera is the only browser of the "big three" with no unpatched vulnerabilities.
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  9. Re:Here is a MUCH easier way to get Opera for Free by zxSpectrum · · Score: 4, Informative

    The license key you recieve when you do that is not valid for Opera 8 .

    That is a limited offer for Opera 7.x that ran in a german computer magazine.

  10. Re:Not being trollish, but... by zxSpectrum · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are lots of more compelling features. That was just one

    • User Javascript. While it has similarities with GreaseMonkey, it can also do a great deal more, since it intercepts at a different level than GM, and it is fully integrated into Opera
    • Mouse gestures are way smoother and better than any Firefox extensions. They react when you use them, instead of 1/10 seconds after
    • Instant back/forward: Instead of refetching the document from the disk cache or the server, it gets the page instantly from the memory cache
    • Mail: If you get used to the Opera mail client, there is no turning back. I handle rather insane amounts of mail, and I never spend time organizing my mail. Opera does that already.
    • Newsfeeds. Unlike the reader built into Firefox: Opera's allow you to read full-text context of feeds that provide it
    • Easy built-in access for disabling plugins, sound in web pages, animated images, Java
    • Session saving: Do you have 1534 sites open, and need to continue later? Save the session and start where you left off

    I could go on a lot longer, but these are some of the features that Firefox doesn't do properly, even with extensions that attempt to do (some of) the same.

  11. Re:The question every firefox user is asking by kngthdn · · Score: 4, Informative

    At first Opera annoyed me, but over time I've really come to depend on it. It can do a few things the other browsers can only dream of.

    - It renders Slashdot fast and correctly!

    - The popup blocker *really* *works*!! Seriously. Firefox has been letting extra-evil ones through lately. Visit drudgereport.com for examples. ;- )

    - I has something called "spatial browsing" that makes keyboard surfing possible. I hold down shift, and the arrow keys navigate through links based on their location on the screen. Firefox can't do this at all.

    - Mouse gestures let me surf faster and with less effort. Firefox has a plugin, but Opera actually invented it.

    - The rewind button doesn't just go back a page, it goes back the last significantly different place I was.The fast-forward button works even when you haven't gone back yet. It reads the page and detects where to go. Firefox has nothing like this. I'm not sure how I lived without it. If I press fast forward while I'm looking at an image, it goes to the next image in the directory! Weird.

    - It lets you turn http referers off. Slashdot has absolutely no idea what page sent me here...

    - It has IRC built in. That's cool, but I don't use it much.

    - The mail client is the best I've ever seen. It's checks and sends from all 5 of my accounts, with Mailbox Oneness never before achieved by mortals.

    - The download manager is excellent. Quick-download is handy.

    - Literally every single part of the interface can be customized by editing the INI files. I've made mine look almost exactly like the KDE browser, Konqueror.

    - Pressing F12 lets me change my settings rapidly. You have to see this one to really like it. No more messy settings boxes. Sometimes you just want to turn javascript off for a few seconds.

    - Deleting cookies isn't a big deal. I click "Tools->Delete Private Data" and click okay. That clears history, cookies, etc all at once. Why can't Firefox do that?

    - It uses a *huge* amount of RAM. Right now it's using 51MB! This sounds bad until you try it; the speed is amazing. Firefox worrys too much about memory and runs slower as a result. Firefox isn't slow, it just isn't this fast.

    - I've tried lots of password-remembering thingies, but the Wand is the only one that's really appealed to me. I just press ctrl-enter and it fills forms in and submits them. It's great for things like forums, where I couldn't care less if my password is stored on my disk.

    - It can do cool tricks, like let you move tabs between windows. I hate tabs anyway, though, so I never use this. ; )

    - If you accidentally close a window, it keeps a list of recently closed windows, so you can reopen it! Very nice. What are the Firefox developers waiting for?

    - If Opera or Windows crashes, when you reload Opera, it can restore all your windows just the way they were. This is unspeakably cool.

    - One of my favorites is that it lets you associate letters with search engines. I type "g whatever I want" into the address bar, and it automatically searches Google. If I type "e something"' it searches eBay! Cool, eh? Who needs the Google bar? Actually, it has that too. It has search bars for 14 different engines.

    - It has support for user stylesheets. This is very impressive. I can't do it justice trying to explain it here. It's cool.

    - You can save "sessions" and open them up later...windows, settings, everything...perfectly intact.

    - Loading PDFs doesn't lock up Opera. Firefox literally becomes unresponsive.

    I could go on all day, but I won't. I just love really love this browser!

    That said, it takes some effort to get it configured so it doesn't suck, and is probably way beyond the masses. Firefox is halfway decent (but buggy...), and most people (read: "lusers") should be using that.

    Oh, and don't whine about gmail support. Opera supports Ajax fully, and there is no reason why gmail shouldn't work, and it used to. Blame google for forcing Opera users to use the crappy basic HTML interface. That's not Opera's fault.